AUTHORS INTERVIEWING AUTHORS

Julie Cantrell Interviews R. J. Lee

New York Times best-selling author of such acclaimed novels as Perennials, Julie Cantrell, interviews here a writer friend of hers, R. J. Lee, whose autofiction, LGBTQ+ novel, The Majestic Leo Marble, was released nationally from Madville Publishing on August 20th. Both novels detail the struggles of their protagonists to center themselves and find a path to stability in life despite significant obstacles to overcome. In the end, they also celebrate the immeasurable power of unconditional love.

Julie Cantrell: In my fourth novel, Perennials, Lovey Sutherland struggles to regain a relationship with her long-estranged sister, Bitsy. Raw from discovering her fiance’ has been leading a double life, Lovey returns home to her father’s request to help plan a 50th anniversary surprise for her mother.

With the family reunited for three weeks in their quaint community of Oxford, Mississippi, the two sisters are forced to face the hurts that drove them apart years earlier. Of course none of this comes easily, especially when obstacles and events get in the way and painful past experiences keep resurfacing. Add to it some tragic twists and a second-chance romance, and you’ve got a family drama that reminds us to keep choosing love above all else.

While Perennials and The Majestic Leo Marble are different in many ways, both novels explore the cultural, religious and familial pressures that can cause deep division when not addressed in healthy ways.

Julie Cantrell to R. J. Lee: In The Majestic Leo Marble, you’ve created an intriguing protagonist who captures the hearts of readers. How would you describe Leo’s primary struggle in this new novel of yours?

R. J. Lee: Leo Marble grows up in historic Beau Pre, Mississippi, in an established family where much is expected of him, including falling in love with the ‘right girl’ and marrying well. But Leo discovers very early in his life that he is not attracted to the opposite sex. This first occurs to him when he is stirred by Charles Atlas ads on the back of comic books. Later, he develops a mad crush at the age of thirteen on an older boy in a Junior Little Theater summer production. He confesses this to his mother, who calmly dismisses it as a ‘phase.’ Soon after, however, Leo overhears his mother saying to his father, “He can’t be our son and not be attracted to girls.” Appropriately, this ‘phase’ is no such thing, and Leo must deal with this struggle throughout the rest of his life.

Julie Cantrell to R. J. Lee: You have described your novel as autofiction. Would you tell us what that means?

R. J. Lee: While fictional events/characters are added to flesh out the plot, autofiction relies heavily on life events and/or characters that actually existed in the author’s life. Leo Marble is not only part of the title of this novel, he is an embellished and reimagined version of myself, playing and singing show tunes at the piano to keep himself centered and sane.

Julie Cantrell to R.J. Lee: Without giving away any spoilers, will you give us an example of an event from the book that actually happened to you in real life?

R. J. Lee: In the novel, Leo moves to New Orleans after growing up in Beau Pre and getting a degree from Sewanee (University of the South). As is well-known, laid-back New Orleans has always had a significant gay subculture. There, Leo truly ‘comes out’ and joins a Gay Resources Coalition, which I actually did.

Later, Leo and other members of the Coalition plan a protest march through the French Quarter. It is scheduled to coincide with Anita Bryant’s visit to entertain at Summer Pops. Her Save Our Children Campaign had just overturned an employment discrimination ordinance in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that had targeted gay teachers. Moreover, I was actually manning the gay helpline the evening that Anita Bryant scored her victory. The abuse I received over the phone is intricately detailed in the plot.

Julie Cantrell to R. J. Lee: That was a painful scene to read in the novel, so I imagine it must have been incredibly painful as a young man. I learned a lot from the story about the history of LGBTQ+ rights and the legal battles that have been fought through the years. What changes have you seen in our culture regarding those with same-sex orientation and other marginalized people since you were growing up ‘in the closet’ in small-town Mississippi?

R. J. Lee: The changes I’ve witnessed have been life-changing for marginalized people. For instance, I was in college when the Public Accommodations Act was passed in Congress under Lyndon Johnson. Before that, people of color could not rent certain hotel rooms, eat in certain restaurants, get library cards, had to enter movie houses through ‘colored entrances,’ drink from ‘colored water fountains,’ had a great deal of trouble voting without harassment, and renting certain houses and apartments

The Stonewall Riots in New York City (referred to in the novel) in 1969 began the efforts of same-sex oriented people to resist their oppression and erase their invisibility; and Anita Bryant’s claim that gay teachers are out there corrupting school children also outraged those of us who were being demonized by a fundamentalist who was relying on fear and ignorance to keep us ‘in our place.’ Of course, the biggest change nationally took place in 2015 when SCOTUS ruled that all states must honor the marriages of all other states as valid. My late husband, Will, and myself were legally married in Maine in 2014, after being together for ten years before that. I never dreamed when I was growing up that I would ever get to be married to the man I loved. I grew up being told by many sources that I shouldn’t even exist or that I should apologize and ‘repent’ for my existence. That’s a great weight to bear.

Julie Cantrell to R. J. Lee: I am so sorry you have been mistreated by so many people throughout your life, and I consider it an honor to call you a friend. When we write about controversial subjects like sexuality, we never know what to expect. What kind of feedback have you received, and has any of it surprised you?

R. J. Lee: It’s early yet, but so far, I’ve been told by reviewers and certain advance-copy readers that the novel is enlightening in that it explains certain things about orientation and/or puts certain issues in proper focus. There is a great deal of misinformation out there about human sexuality in general. First, there is a specific ‘religious’ filter that eyes all sexual activity as improper unless it results in procreation, a view I have always found untenable. Certainly, this planet is not suffering from underpopulation. So recreational sex and birth control practices are a function of both love and responsible family planning.

The biggest misconception out there is that same-sex orientation is a choice. It is no such thing, any more than opposite sex attraction is a choice. The overwhelming majority of human beings are wired to be heterosexual, but not a one of them ever ‘decided’ to be attracted to the opposite gender. That attraction just appeared when it was supposed to. So it is with those of us who are attracted to the same sex. So far, those who have read the novel have told me that they learned something they did not know or understand, not only about same-sex orientation, but how cultural oppression can lead to unwise and unhealthy choices in an attempt to ‘fit in’ and be accepted. My hope is that Leo Marble will resonate with a great many people and they benefit from its view of humanity.

Julie Cantrell: Thank you, R. J., for your time today. I admire you for sharing your stories with the world, and I hope you’ll continue to give voice to those who have been silenced or shamed. You never know who may be receiving this book as a lifeline on the other side of the shelf.